Re: [BNW] population statistics

["Malcolm Knight" <malcolm.knight1@virgin.net>]

From: Ewan <e.chilton@bcftcs.ac.uk>

> > And they would be okay with killing a million or two innocent people in
> > the process? I know BNW isn't really supposed to be a superhero setting,
> > but I thought it was supposed to be at least vaguely heroic. Oh well to
> > each his own.
>
> yeah i dont think these PC's would be too bothered about that, besides the
> point is that it dosnt say in the book what the defiants are like. how
right
> wing are they? what means are acceptable to justify the ends they are
trying
> to achive?

Since your trying to quote me (I assume, unfortunatly I missed the beginning
of the thread), the thermo-nuclear weapon in Washington DC idea was just an
extension to my "one shot is all it takes" theory, and it wasn't an example
of a what a character should do to change BNW America, just what someone
could do if they were skilled, motivated and resourceful enough. And role
play characters usually are.
    Besides which, you wouldn't need to destroy Washington, what's the point
of being President if you don't leave the White House?

> > Where would they get weapon's grade plutonium? How would they get
> > the bomb past security? If they flew it in they would probably get shot
> > down before they got close to the white house.

    Eh? The idea is that you assemble the bomb in Washington itself, and you
only have to be vaguly near the White House when you detonate to achieve
your objective. The plutonium could be gained from a nuclear power station
if you went to enough effort.

> obvioulsy there are loads of problems with this hypothetical assination
> attempt. what im realy trying to at is what the defiance are like.

    The biggest problem is that it might not make any difference to America,
only tighten the screws down. Which was why I think the GM secret
information section of the main rule book is nice and interesting, but in
the average game totaly meaningless. The President may change but the
policies remain the same. The fact that Kennedy lives in a fortress and is
the most powerful man in the world is totaly irrelevent, you can still get
to him, but it wouldn't make a difference.

> A: fundamentalist left wing terrorists willing to kill and be killed to
> fight for what they think is right
> B: lefty do gooders who go on marches, sing songs and write to thier
member
> of congress

    I would have thought it was a mixture of both, but the real question
should be "If characters are 'do gooders', how to they help in changing the
country (assuming that is their objective)?" It isn't really releveant how
violent the fundamentalists are, their actions only prove the wisdom of the
Federal Government's policies.
    If we assume that their are an equal number of Delta Prime agents which
are actually Delta's (or have powered armour equivalent to a Delta), then
direct action against the Government will usually end in failure. Delta
Prime, by virtue of being a Federal Agency is more organized and equipped
than a loose confederation of terrorist cells which are probably too
paranoid (and probably with good reason) to co-ordinate their actions
effectively. It's a fight on Delta Primes terms. So what do the Defiance do
instead? Protect the Jones' melon farming business against those evil, but
well connected, melon Barons trying to muscle in (a la The A-Team)? Probably
not, you can't protect the Jones' for long, sooner or later Delta Prime will
respond. And I suspect their response time is limited only by the time it
takes to call them and the speed with which helicopters can transport them.
If I were them I'd have airborne units of agents on standby at all times.
    Has anyone seen The Siege (?, recent film with Bruce Willis, Denzel
Washington). That's kind of how I envisioned Martial Law being implemented
in BNW America (perhaps you couldn't get away with rocketing suspects
buildings with Apaches, but it looks so cool).
    On the note of how many Deltas their actually are, assuming a population
of 200 million people even one in 2,000 is 100,000 Deltas. If only a third
of them work for Delta Prime protecting the nation from terrorists that
makes Delta Prime larger than the FBI. Then you have the rest of the
security forces, army, FBI, etc. That's a lot of people that are employed to
catch or kill unregistered Deltas amongst other things. Nice odds if you can
get them.
    Humm....might be an idea to read the Rifts Coalition War Campaign for
hints on how to run a police state and get away with it.

    Malcolm.